UN and WHO incomplete without presence of Taiwan

It is hard to believe that in this late date, the two leading world bodies – the United Nations and World Health Organization – have yet to recognize the existence of Taiwan. Right now, the world is being threatened with a pandemic. Health authorities agree that the bird flu pandemic is just a matter of time. It is not a question of it, but, when. Yet, sad to say, even the World Health Organization is giving wrong information on its spread. Only recently, the WHO claimed that the bird flu had spread in China and it included Taiwan. The truth is that bird flu cases have been reported in mainland China but not in Taiwan. This mistake occurred because to this date, the World Health Organization has refused to grant Taiwan even just an observer status in WHO and so Taiwan has been shut out of that international health community since 1972 due to political pressure from Beijing.

Taiwan separated from China during the civil war in 1949. China claims sovereignty over the self-ruled islands, but concedes that it does not rule it. So this day, Taiwan is not represented in both the United Nations and the World Health Organization. So we have a global village that insofar as the two major international organizations are concerned, do not include Taiwan. The worst part is that the WHO has turned down Taiwan’s request to have at least an observer’s status in the world body. And so now, we cannot even rely on the WHO to give us an accurate report on the spread of the bird flu.

Last year, we wrote that as enshrined in its Constitution, WHO has for its objective "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. "Needless to say, it cannot achieve its objective unless it includes all the countries in the world. To this late date, WHO has not allowed Taiwan to participate in any of its activities. Taiwan was denied membership in WHO way back in 1972. So it is not a complete world organization. In 1997, Taiwan applied to be able to participate in the World Health Assembly (WHA) as mere "observers." Even this was denied. How can a world organization arbitrarily deny a nation membership in its organization?

The WHO Constitution says, "We value every life" and "every mother and child counts." Apparently, not if they are Taiwanese. WHO is adopting a "health apartheid" policy in not recognizing the existence of Taiwan.

Taiwan has contributed to the health situation of the world and definitely does not deserve to be the only nation excluded from a world body.

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CORRECTION. Last Thursday’s column stated that we have had two Chinas since 1912. That is wrong. The Republic of China was founded by Dr. Sun Yat Sen in 1912. But it was not till the 1949 Civil war that the Republic of China have been completely separated. Taiwan is not part of the People’s Republic of China.